The Criminal Minds Character You Likely Forgot Mae Whitman Played

During its 15-season primetime run on CBS, "Criminal Minds" regularly ranked among the most unsettling programs in the network landscape. And as any longtime fan of the show can attest, the series' creative team regularly displayed an uncanny ability to outdo even themselves when it came to exploring the depravity of their various unsubs. But even those fans might admit said creatives delivered an all-timer of a creepy unsub plot with the Season 5 episode titled "Cradle to Grave."

The episode finds the BAU team hunting for a serial rapist and murderer who holds his victims in captivity for years at a time, impregnating them and then killing them soon after they give birth. While the episode spares viewers a first-hand look at such horrendous sights, it does spend considerable time with Carol (a victim on the cusp of giving birth) and recent abductee Julie (a drug addict who's horrified at learning of her own potential fate).

Yes, that was indeed Mae Whitman portraying young Julie in the episode. And yes, the actor is at her low-key, cracked-out best during her "Criminal Minds" guest spot, imbuing her bedraggled character with equal parts world-weary resolve and steadfast humanity. Though she's not blessed with a ton of screen time in "Cradle to Grave," Whitman wows throughout, skillfully toeing the line between those disparate emotional viewpoints as she tries to help her fellow captive.

Of course, if you've been paying attention to Mae Whitman throughout her career, you know she's developed quite a reputation for bringing such dexterity to even the smallest of roles. You probably also know that even in spite of her well-earned rep, Whitman remains one of the more egregiously underrated actors in the game.

Whitman has actually been honing her skills professionally for almost three decades now, earning her first screen credit in 1994 playing the daughter of Meg Ryan's troubled mom in "When a Man Loves a Woman." She'd go on to portray the children of several other major stars in the 1990s, including George Clooney ("One Fine Day"), Sandra Bullock ("Hope Floats"), and Kenneth Branagh ("The Gingerbread Man"). Still, Whitman the child actor is perhaps best known as the daughter of Bill Pullman's President Thomas J. Whitmore in the 1994 blockbuster "Independence Day."

The actor has obviously grown out of such roles over the years, and she's continued to display astonishing range as a performer, delivering standout performances in ensemble pieces like the legendary cult-hit sitcom "Arrested Development" (playing Ann Veal), Edgar Wright's "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" (as evil ex Roxy Richter), and NBC's beloved family drama "Parenthood" (portraying Amber Holt). Most recently, she stunned as a good mom-turned-bank robber in the NBC dramedy "Good Girls." Whitman also voiced Katara in "Avatar: The Last Airbender" as well as April O'Neal in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and has contributed to dozens of other animated projects throughout her career.